Only Human
by KaydenceRei
Summary: For the first time, Sawyer saw fear and recognition in Juliet's eyes. He saw.. humanity.// Spoiler's for 5x2, The Lie.


**Disclaimer**: Nothings mine.

**Author's Note**: This contain's spoiler's for episode 5x3, The Lie. An entire scene basically.

**Only Human**:

Sawyer glanced at Juliet as they sat behind the bushes, silently watching one man walk passed them. He didn't realize they were still holding hands at first. But he did realize as he stop holding hers, she wasn't letting go of his. And then a second man walked passed their hiding spot behind the bushes.

Juliet bit down on her lower lip. This was ridiculous, two men had just walked passed the spot they were hiding behind the bushes. And how much cover did these bushes really posess anyhow? They were completely screwed. She only realized she was holding Sawyer's hand when he attempted to release his hold. She frowned as the third man finally went passed, and they waited a moment for nobody else.

"Who are those people?" Sawyer whispered, turning his face to look at Juliet. "Do you think they're the ones who shot those arrows?"

Juliet glanced at him and rolled her eyes. "Don't know. You wanna crawl out there and ask them?" she whispered in return.

Sawyer stared at her incredulously. "You don't have to be a wise-ass," he whispered, watching as she looked forward through the bushes again. "I'm just tryin' to.." but he never got to finish the statement. Not as her hand was wrenched from his and she was pulled from his side instantaneously. It wasn't that, that made him smell the sudden fear, it was the gasp that came from her. "HEY!" he yelled, attempting to go after the man who had grabbed Juliet, only to be grabbed as well, and have a machete put to his throat.

Juliet struggled to pull away, the man had pulled her up by her hair, and now he was holding her arms behind her back. If it weren't for the man with the rather large knife to Sawyer's throat, she might've actually tried something a little more then she had.

"What are you doing on our island!?"

Sawyer kept his eyes on Juliet, who was currently being thrown to the ground by the man who had originally grabbed her, and the man who had held the machete to his throat. Now he simply had a rifle to his head. Wonderful. Could life get any better for him? He watched her trying to pull away from the two men. Of course, his mind went to the worst possibility of why they would be attacked, Juliet wasn't looking like heaven after the recent activities, but no man could deny she had natural beauty. Two men were holding her down and he was being held back by a rifle to the head, this was the classic, 'watch while we take your girl' fiasco.

"I'm gonna make this quite simple for you!" the man yelled. "You're gonna tell me what you're doing, how many of you there are, and how you got here."

Juliet made eye contact with James for only a brief second as she tried to get up again, then was instantly pushed back against the fallen tree. She grunted, not because she meant to, but because her shoulder was burning. Four dislocations of her shoulder, this was getting old fast. If these two guys kept it up any longer, she was going to be heading for a fifth dislocation. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and held still, relieving at least some of the pressure from resisting.

Sawyer couldn't stand to watch any woman be held down by men like that. It was the second grunt of pain he'd heard come from her now as she struggled with her captors. When he made eye contact with her, all he could see was the pain in her eyes. "Let her go!" he called, looking back at the man with the rifle.

"Don't speak unless you're answering my questions! I want you to tell me everything or else I'll cut off her other hand."

Juliet's eyes widened in shock at the man's statement. Instantly she started squirming around again as she looked over at the man with the rifle. "What?!"

Sawyer looked both angered and appalled as he looked back at the man behind him. "Other?!"

"The first one isn't negotiable! It's just to illustrate how serious I am."

Juliet watched as the man with the large knife pulled it out again, and she squinted her eyes in pain as they wrenched her arm forward and kept it held out. The man with the machete was holding it above his head and getting ready to bring it down. Her eyes widened slightly. "Don't!"

Sawyer was disgusted. How the hell was he suppose to stop this? "Hold on! Hold on! Chill out! We're not supposed to be here! There are these flashes.."

"DO IT!"

"NO!" Juliet called out, trying to pull her arm away from the man. She could already feel the tears welling up as she struggled and stared up at the machete.

For the first time, Sawyer saw fear and recognition in Juliet's eyes. He saw.. humanity.. "WAIT a second! I'll tell you whatever you wanna know!" he screamed.

"DO IT!"

"NOOOO!" Juliet screeched, looking up as the guy began to bring the machete down. She was about to close her eyes and pray when she saw the large rock whail the man in the face, knocking him away from her. She looked and saw another hit the man with the rifle. And not even a moment later Sawyer was tackling the man still left holding her down. She only hesitated a moment in thanks before she ran and grabbed the rifle from the second man who'd been knocked down.

Sawyer didn't think as the two men were knocked down. All he could think was, _I'll kill the man for putting the tears in her eyes like that, for putting the fear of the world into her_, so when the two men went down, he instantly went after the man holding Juliet, beating the man's face in until he looked up at the man with the machete held above him. He watched as the knife flew from the foliage and was implanted in the man's side, killing him.

Juliet was frozen only for a moment before she aimed her gun at the person who came through the foliage. Savior or not, she trusted no one, aside from Sawyer at the moment. She watched in sickened disbelief as John Locke came from the woods, but even then she didn't take her aim off him. And she watched as he pulled his knife from the man's side.

"James.. Juliet," Locke said, smiling.

Sawyer stared in disbelief at John Locke. He then dared a quick glance at Juliet who didn't take her sights off of him immediately, or lower the gun. _Good girl.._ he thought to himself. He would've done that same.

Juliet took a deep breath and sighed, lowering her aim off of John Locke.

It was later on, when her and Sawyer were far enough behind from everyone else that she stopped and grabbed his arm.

Sawyer stopped and looked at her as well. "Somethin' wrong, blondie?"

Juliet rolled her eyes, but she smiled nonetheless. "I wanted.. to say thank you."

"For what?"

Juliet opened her mouth to respond, but instead she said nothing. She simply shook her head and went to walk away.

"Hey," Sawyer said, grabbing her arm like she had done to him. He let go immediately when she winced. "Your arm alright?"

Juliet glanced back at him. "It doesn't matter right now."

Sawyer stepped in front of her, his way of telling her they weren't done yet. "It matters to me."

"Why?" she questioned, her voice incredulous. "After all I've done, said, why did you try to stop them from cutting my hand off anyway?"

"Hey, that's insulting," Sawyer told her. "I may not be a perfect gentleman," he stated. "But I ain't the kinda man that's gonna let someone chop a girl's hand off."

Juliet sighed and sat down on rock. "That's not what I meant."

Sawyer sat down beside her on the rock. "Then what did ya' mean?"

"That I deserved it."

Sawyer stared at her, flabberghasted. How the hell was he suppose to respond to that? He took a deep breath and let it out. This wasn't one of those joking times, he was gonna have to be serious with her. "Juliet," he said, using her real name. It was something he didn't do often, but you knew he was serious when he did it. "No one deserves that," he told her. "When I first met ya', I didn't think there was anything but an iced up heart in that chest of yours."

Juliet let out a slight chuckle in response as she looked everywhere but at Sawyer.

"But what I seen today," Sawyer said. "I saw a woman who tried to save a dead man, even though there were flamin' arrows flyin' at us," he told her. "I saw a woman who had the fear of God put into her by three men tryin' to cut off her hand," he said, putting the said hand into his and holding it in front of her face. "I saw a woman who I could trust, cause she ain't the same person she pretended to be with those Others' sons of bitches."

Juliet glanced down at their hands as he linked his fingers with hers.

"You can sit here and pretend all ya' want that what happened ain't affected ya'," Sawyer stated. "But we both know otherwise."

Juliet bit down on her lower lip and watched as Sawyer stood up, releasing her hand. And this time she let go as well.

"I only need to know one thing," Sawyer stated, looking back down at her.

Juliet glanced up, saying nothing.

Sawyer smiled. "Can I trust ya' to get my back?"

"Absolutely," Juliet answered instantly.

Sawyer grinned, dimples showing and all. "Good to know," he replied, holding his hand out to her.

Juliet smiled and took his hand, letting him pull her back up to her feet.

"Oh and by the way," he stated as they moved to catch up with the rest of their small group.

"Hmm?" she mumbled out, glancing up at him.

"I'm still not over the fact ya' told me I was buildin' a runway for aliens."

Juliet grinned before looking forward once again.

**()()()END()()()**

**Just thought we could use some in-sight on that. Seemed like a particularly scarring moment for a person about to get her hand removed with a machete.**

**-Kay**


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